


The Wish

by DragonLdy



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Dimension Travel, F/M, Gem of Amara, Lindsey Stirling, Wishverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-03 16:29:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13345065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonLdy/pseuds/DragonLdy
Summary: When Cordelia made her wish to Anyanka in season 3 she ended up in a Sunnydale that Buffy Summers had never been in. This Buffy Summers was not the hard as nails, scarred and angry girl that was in the show this is my version of Buffy.This Buffy had travelled around America saving people and killing monsters, she never gave her virginity to a vampire who then lost his soul and terrorised her, her family and friends for months. She never got that fact thrown in her face repeatedly by her so-called friends, had to stab a re-souled Angel and deal with the crushing guilt of that or spent several months in a dead-end diner being made to feel like a worthless piece of meat that any guy could just grab.This was a happy more fulfilled Buffy who left her parents to embrace her destiny and her calling, travelled across America meeting groups like Gunn's that hunted vampires and developed a healthy interest in the violin and this is her story.





	1. A Slayer Drives into a Hellmouth

Buffy pulled her van off the highway and passed the sign that said quite ominously “Welcome to Sunnydale HELL” where some thoughtful person had added their own mark to the original Sunnydale signage. She lit a fresh cigarette as she smiled at the sign, someone had drawn a bad caricature of a face with dripping fangs on it and there was a sign next to it that said “Curfew in affect sundown to sunup”; this looked like it was definitely her kind of town. She turned the wheel towards the sign that looked slightly new and hit the gas pedal until her van smashed into it and knocked it flat with an exciting screeching sound; this town wouldn’t be needing any curfews once she was done with it. 

It was a little after two in the afternoon when Buffy found the biggest vampire hotspot in town, there must be upwards of fifty vamps in there because the signature tinglies they were giving off were driving her crazy, she was going to have to be creative to kill all of these demons. The sewers around the building seemed to be regularly used so she carefully set the fuses to give her one hour to get everything ready, the various watchers she had had over the years had tried to make her practice various archaic vampire hunting methods like using single shot crossbows when entering a vamp nests they would tell her things like how ‘important discretion was’ and how she ‘must always work alone’. Buffy would smile and never bothered arguing with them, it was a waste of energy as they were wholly committed to the Watcher’s Council party line and no matter how many vamps she killed they would never see her as more than a little girl with abilities, not a person whose opinion and achievements they should acknowledge and respect.

The fuses set Buffy climbed the side of the building to the flat roof of the building, it was definitely an old club based on the coloured neon sign at the top that said ‘The Bronze’ but the sign was dull and grey in the harsh light of day. Buffy took a moment to turn her face to the hot Californian sun, her greatest friend and ally; she tried to take a moment every day to thank its effulgent beams for the help it gave her daily. The water tank was exactly where she had expected it to be, obviously these vamps weren’t big on maintenance as it had all sorts of algae growing in there and had clearly not been cleaned properly in months maybe years. She took the rolled-up hose off her shoulder and put it in the tank and turned it on. She had connected it to the fire hydrant on the street before climbing the building with it, it was a hose she had often used in the mission and she smiled at it as the fresh water began to flow into the nearly empty container then she took the rosary beads from around her neck and began the prayer to make the water blessed and therefore corrosive to all the ungodly, her first watcher had brought her to a church to get holy water and behaved as if that was there only choice but Buffy had run a few experiments and discovered that it didn’t matter which denomination of the faith the priest was from as long as he blessed the water so one day on a whim she had looked it up online and found a church that would ordain her as one of their own for the low-low price of $500, she spent half a day in Vegas getting the ordination and as a paid up member of ‘The Church of His Holy Light’ she was able to make her own holy water or as she called it “Vamp Acid”. The best part was that the water couldn’t really be watered down so she blessed the water in the tank and left the rosary beads in the murky liquid then blessed the puddle that was forming around the tank. Still plenty to do, thirty minutes until the fuses in the sewers went off. Buffy set more fuses by the painted over windows, the sun was still her greatest ally so the doors that opened onto the street should be covered. 

Carefully and quietly she snuck into the building through what must have been the toilet window but was now a foul blood drenched place stinking of death and decay, this was where they dumped the bodies they were finished chewing on or stored the chained-up victims they were keeping for later consumption. Buffy tried not to care when she saw people hurting like this, she just wouldn’t be able to keep going if she got upset over every horrifying sight like this she came across so instead she handed a cross to a conscious girl and put another on a passed out young man and with an encouraging smile she told the girl “In God we trust”. She then hefted the bag over her shoulder and went into the club where the vampires lazed around the room in various stages of slumber (it was always harder for younger vamps to stay awake at this time of the day), to the right of what once must have been a dance floor there was a big red curtain slightly open where she could see one of the ugliest vampires she’d ever seen all in leather and waving his hands around as he talked about some big plan he had in motion and the vampires looked at him as if he was the Messiah come again but maybe for vampire he was, she took a cigarette from behind her ear and flicked on her lighter by dashing it against her thigh as he continued his speech which was more of a monologue, a few other vamps gave her an annoyed look at her rudeness like she had interrupted sermon at church at something but went back to watching him, Buffy then took a small firework from the pocket of her leather jacket and carefully lit it off the little red glow from the end of her cigarette.

“Information Age.” She said after a few minutes, mostly because no one was paying her any attention and she was bored.

“What? who dares interrupt me?” The ugly vampire rasped around his fangs and the other vampires were looking at her now with wariness as they obviously thought she was a mad woman who had signed her own death warrant.

“Information Age, it hasn’t been the Industrial Age for about fifty years, we also call it the Computer Age on account of more electronic mail being sent last year than regular mail, you should actually read up on it or anything, should shut you up a while. Oh! And let me introduce myself, I’m Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.” She replied with mock cheerfulness and threw the firework from earlier as if it was a throwing star at the ugly old vamp. It was a sort of throwing star, it was designed to be nailed to a wall and lit so that it whirled around and set off bright sparks in all directions, she had bought a load of them on her last trip to Mexico and was pleased as it went off now with a whirring ear-piercing screech, that she was sure would drive the hyper aware vamps to distraction, as it flew towards the ugly one sending off smoke and sparks in all directions and the minions tried to simultaneously shield their master and recover from the shock. 

Vampires are very sensitive to light, sound and smell so the firecracker upset and disorientated all of the assembled vamps so much that it made staking the first five of them very easy for the practiced Slayer. Then as they started to scatter away from her there was another series of loud explosions that the hyper sensitive demons had not been prepared for and all of a sudden, the high windows that had been blacked out were now smashed by her mini explosives and sunlight was streaming in. Buffy danced among the vampires as they tried desperately to fight her off but she was too skilled and too strong. Early in the battle she took off the neck scarf which had concealed the choker she had made which had crucifixes on it protecting all of her neck veins from bites, under her jacket were several stakes and a few more fire crackers, including the ones that you threw on the ground to make deafening banging noises, deafening to vampires anyway. “Hey guess what happens when a room fills with smoke?!” She called to the ugly vamp as he ran away towards a back door with his minions shielding him and the sprinkler went off. Fighting the vampires instantly became easier as they screamed and tore at their flesh as the holy water rained down upon them from above, had she been in a mood to she could have probably said something about cleansing rain flowing down but all the vamps were running for their emergency exit which she guessed led them to the sewers. 

She looked at her watch and waited another ten seconds before the screaming started up again and hefting her favourite pickaxe with wooden tips in one hand and her stake in the other she went down the steps. The explosions in the sewer had been from the fireworks Buffy had set up there earlier that she had carefully placed to illuminate and ignite the big crosses she had made and stood in the exits of the tunnel, they had no escape unless they were willing to walk through fire and towards burning crosses. 

 

They were now in the lower basement level and the holy water was burning their feet and ankles as the confused and angry vampires trampled over each other trying to reach the safety of subterranean tunnels. Then the tunnels exploded in light and huge burning crosses with sparks coming off them, the youngest vamps immediately recoiled and ran away while the more experienced Master stood staring at them, their brightness burning a hole in his retinas. 

He had tried explaining to his childer the danger of the Slayer, as their exploits grew and he knew the outside world was hearing of his successes in the small town he had feared the Slayer would come but for some reason she never had. Now she was here and despite their best efforts they had failed; what had taken him over sixty years to create was now being destroyed by their legendary enemy. He had the power of the thrall but this warrior was too quick, too focused and he was in too much pain as the flesh burnt off his feet to try any of that. He had failed; his childer were not as well trained in combat as he should have wished, he had bred too fast and too many, they understood their strengths but did not respect their weaknesses. He saw them all fall by her weapons; his Malcolm, his considerate Xander and his sweet Willow. They had not been ready to fight a Slayer, none of his progeny ever had been able to fight a Slayer without the Thrall except one but he was in Europe somewhere having refused to answer the call Heinrich had sent out years earlier. After a thousand years of being the head of the Aurelius Line Heinrich Nest turned to meet his fate; it had been an evil life; he had caused great pain and desolation, had been a true scourge upon mankind as were his childer, he smiled and regretted nothing as he met the Slayer’s stake.

*****************

Buffy looked around the wet and ashy basement room, glad that she had pulled the face scarf over her mouth and nose for the battle. There wasn’t any proof that vampire dust was bad for the lungs but it wigged her out when she blew her nose days after a big slaying like this and there was still dust in it (Gross!). There was a cage in one wall of the room and a figure n chains was holding himself off the floor by the window bars. She looked very different from how he remembered; there was a scar on her lip and a tattoo that went all the way around her right eye.

“I waited for you,” He coughed out, “You were supposed to be my redemption.” He laughed bitterly as she raised her stake and threw it between the bars to hit him in the heart. He was just another vampire, had probably done something to deserve being in those chains but it was probably something like speaking out of turn not anything she should be concerned about so she walked away and didn’t give him a second thought. 

Angel had waited for her, had waited and watched as the Harvest happened, as the Master was able to rise and claim the club and the town as his own but he had been ready to step in and help when she finally showed up; his destiny was to help her not to do her job for her so he had waited but Darla had been so tempting and as beautiful as ever so he had had no choice but to end her and the Master had kept him caged ever since. 

******************

 

Buffy swung her pickaxe with the wooden head, so she could swing it around to stake her prey using both sides, a few of the watchers told her that this wasn’t “the correct way” and given her grief about it but that’s why she never kept watchers for long. She had Merrick’s address book and she went around the country visiting the people her first and really her only watcher had known. She figured that since her Slayer dreams were prophetic that she must be a bit psychic and whenever she drove to a crossroads or was trying to plan a route anywhere she based the answer on the flip of a coin, it made her unpredictable and led her to many out of the way places that would have otherwise been left with vampire and demon problems. She did have an email address too that all her contact were welcome to contact her on, she was only ever an email away from any of her friends that needed her help.


	2. Buffy meets the Scoobies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy saves Cordelia and meets the Scoobies

Buffy tried not to yawn as she drove her van around the town, she had driven all night to get to Sunnyhell and could feel tiredness taking over as the adrenaline of the kills wore off. The few shops and businesses that still existed in the small town were shutting up shop and the owners were pulling down and putting up protective metal caging in front of them; baricading themselves in for the night. This town had been terrorised by vampires for too long, she wondered why no one had seeked her help here before and it made her angry, a lot of the fledges she killed were younger than two years; she had been the Slayer then and she could have saved them so why had no one called for her? She could see a girl in a bright blue suit walking the street and looking around in confusion; it was the first bit of colour she had seen since coming to the town and she was surprised as most people who know about vampires know that they are attracted to bright colours, no sooner had she thought that then the girl was approached by two vampires who looked the worst for wear. Buffy slammed on the accelarator and knocked them to the ground, the girl threw herself to the pavement just in time and Buffy dispatched the two of them quickly with her stake before turning to her. The girl immediately threw her arms around her neck in gratitude before pushing her away.

"Buffy!" She exclaimed, "What is going on? Everything is so weird, my car is missing and this place...it didn't look like this yesterday! And no one at school knew who you were and Harmony said that Willow and Xander were..were dead! And what have you done to your hair?!" The girl was crying now and obviously distraught but she was holding onto Buffy's shirt so tight that Buffy felt a bit claustrophobic. She tried to gently and then forcefully remove the girls well manicured hands from her shirt as she tried to get her to make sense.

"I don't know you, do I?" She asked the confused and hysterical girl.

"Of course you know me we-That girl! I made this wish, just a stupid wish and she -her face changed and she-" The girl began again.

"Look why don't we talk about this in my van, the streets aren't safe tonight." She steered the crying girl to her van and got in, she regularly dowsed the outside of it with holy water and there were several crosses painted on it in white and luminous paint with crushed garlic smeared over them so her van was one of the safest places where Buffy could think and get away from it all. She was quite proud of her van; she had met these lovely Briachan demons who lived on a commune and sold their arts and crafts at the local farmers market and they had designed this beautiful mural for the outside of her van with bright neon paint that carefully hid the protective signs, sigils and crosses making it deadly to vampires and several demons while at the same time just looking like new age art to normal people, she smeared fresh ground garlic over it herself every few weeks but the original artwork was still intact.

The girl took a few calming breaths once they were inside the van and wrinkled her nose at the candy wrappers that littered the floor. Ÿuck this thing is a mess, don't you ever clean it?" She asked in a hoity toity manner which made Buffy wonder why she was helping this girl.

"Sorry the cleaning lady took a few weeks off and you just can't find the staff these days." She replied sarcastically with a frown.

"Yeah staff can be annoying but that's really no excuse Buffy." She said having completely missed the tone Buffy had used.

"Erm, how do you know my name?" She asked with a frown, Buffy hadn't been Buffy for years, she used different names depending on which fake ID she was using at the time but she was pretty sure she had never met this girl before, even though she acted and dressed like some of the friends she had had in her old life before being chosen.

"Duh, we've been like going to the same school for like three years now!" She exclaimed in exasperation. "Look we should find Giles, he's your watcher, he'll know what's happened." Buffy followed the girl's directions to the local high school feeling a bit bewildered, this could be some kind of trap but then she'd been caught in traps before and fought her way out. "So what did happen to your hair, and your tattoo! You look like some 80's punk reject." Buffy seriously considered killing the girl and dumping the body, no one would blame her for it.

"I got into some trouble with some fire breathing lizard demon things, the Watcher who sent me didn't mention the fire breathing, anyway one side of my head got pretty burnt and once the skin had healed a bit I decided a tattoo would look better than uneven melted skin and the hair only grew back recently so I put in the coloured hair extensions to make it look as long on the right side as the left." She knew it didn't look great, one side of her head had hair falling past her shoulder and the other was only a few inches long, she was lucky the hair had grown back at all once it got fried.She had looked into getting blond extensions but the only ones she could afford looked fake so she had gone with the obviously fake ones that were bright pink and blues and purples. She didn't look anything like the Buffy that had lived in LA so many years ago and was proud of that fact. 

"Well yeah I suppose you're doing the best you can but still you should go to a hair dresser or something I can give you the name of my stylist I'm sure she'd be able to help you out." Buffy smiled at the other girl, she did seem to have a good heart deep, deep down. The school was like the town; grey and deserted after dark. There were walls and walls of memorial photos and she recognised a few vampires from the club among the photos. The library itself was surprisingly old fashioned with ornate wooden bannisters and there she found three students dressed in drab grey clothes and one older man in the same. Cordelia really seemed to have been making a fashion statement with her outfit.

"Giles!" Cordelia instantly exclaimed, "You HAVE to help us something is seriously wrong, this wasn't supposed to happen, nothing was supposed to be this way!" Buffy hung back and lit a cigarette, the old guy gave her a disapproving look but she just shrugged, not like lung cancer was something she had to worry about with her life expectancy and it helped to keep her awake. 

"Eh, Cordelia is it? I don't think the two of you should be out this late you know how dangerous the town is these days." He said with a frown.

"What?! No we're fine, Buffy's the Slayer and she killed them all, didn't you Buffy?" 

"I wouldn't say all," she said nonchalantly as she flicked the end of her cigarette, "There were the two who were bothering you and the fifty four I staked earlier but I doubt that was all of them." Everyone turned to her in shock, she had seen the crossbows on the table and the huge wooden crosses around each of the students necks so she knew they knew the score and since Cordelia somehow knew she was the Slayer and had just announced it to the room there was no point in hedging around the fact.

"What do you mean you staked 54?" The bigger of the two boys asked while slowly reaching for his crossbow. 

"I mean I came to town this afternoon and found the biggest vamp's nest I could in some old nightclub called The Bronze and I personally staked 54 of them though I probably killed a lot more, sometimes they run into the sunlight to get away from me or a few of them probably got trampled to death, it was very dusty so I can't be sure." They were all looking at her in open mouthed amazement so she continued "But I probably didn't kill all of them, there were probably a few smarter ones living away from the main nest so they'll be out tonight looking for blood, that's why I have my handy police radio-" She held it up for all to see "-but I haven't heard much yet."

"Who are you?" The girl finally asked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah she's the vampire slayer, like I said but can we focus on me for a second. Giles something seriously weird is going on, Buffy has no idea who I am or who you are and she didn't even know how to get to the school and she has this tattoo and- and- and-" The girl dissolved into tears which made the Englishman uncomfortable as he tied to pat her companionably on the back.

"There, there, you've had a shock why don't you sit down and we'll sort this all out. Now, you claim to be the Vampire Slayer," he said as he turned to Buffy, "I find it highly unlikely that one person could take out that many vampires in one day." He said in a slightly accusatory manner, she could tell she was going to like him about as much as all the other Watchers she had met.

"You're right it didn't take a day it took two maybe three hours tops and that's including the time it took to get everything ready and to take the few remaining survivors to the hospital. Not bad for an afternoons work but there will be more out for revenge tonight so if you know how to use that crossbow you're holding we should get ready. Oh and since Cordy here says you're a Watcher I'm guessing you already know all about me and your duty to me?"

"My duty to you?" He asked incredulously as she twirled one of their wooden crosses between her fingers, he had never actually met a Slayer but had always wanted to, strange how it never occurred to him to call on his colleagues at the council to summon the Slayer to his Hellmouth.

"Yeah, nothing big just a bit of home cooked food, a bed for the night and did someone mention food?" She then gave him a smile that made her look younger and much more carefree than she had been and he wondered how old she really was.

First they dropped the still talking Cordelia to her home where her maid seemed worried about her but her parents had apparently been concerned but not enough to phone around for her. Then they went to Giles's apartment and the Scoobies as he affectionately called the young people started talking all at once. Buffy brought a bag of weapons in from her van as well as a bag of clothes and a puppet.

"His name's Sid, he keeps me company on the road, say 'Hello' Sid," She said raising the puppet's hand in greeting, "'Hello Sid'" She said in a funny voice and then seeing all of the bewildered expressions on their faces she quickly changed the subject. "Brilliant! You have a washer-dryer, do you mind if I do a load? Nothing dusty I promise, I know what vampire dust can do to the filter but all my clothes could do with a clean while I'm in the shower."

Taken aback Giles answered "Yes, yes if you need to, a shower? Really? Are you sure you need one right now?" He asked in confusion. He had been living in abject terror in this town for over two years and this girl was asking about laundry? "Yeah well I haven't had a proper shower in a few days, difficult when you're in the van you know? And it will give you plenty of time to cook that lovely dinner somebody mentioned." Giles looked at the other young people in exasperation as the shower started, she had been the one who mentioned a home cooked meal, several times in fact so perhaps she was just hungry and as a Watcher though not technically her's it was his duty to feed her. Giles took off his glasses and polished them as the Scoobies sharpened their stakes and listened to the police scanner, this is not how he imagined his life turning out. 

"So what did I miss?" She asked, coming back into the room with her hair hanging wet in lopsided ponytail because of the difference in length and wearing fresh clothes.

"It will be pasta, I hope that's alright?" He asked not really looking for an answer as he served it up.

"Perfect! I could eat a horse right now, so Sid, what do you think of these guys? Are they on the up and up?" She asked as she started to dig into her food.

Everyone jumped as the puppet turned his head and answered her. "They seem pretty straight, the short fella's scared you might kill werewolves and the girl is angry that you didn't come here sooner." 

"You're a werewolf huh? I've met a few of them, you got yourself under control then we'll have no problems. I would have come here sooner, I find towns with high crime rates and 'animal attacks' and go to them and when I've staked and killed the Big Bads I move on to the next town, I don't know how your town could have gotten so bad without me hearing about it I really don't, I know professional demon hunters, I go on all the websites and chat rooms but I've never heard anything about this place, not even from the Watchers I've met," she looked at Giles pointedly for confirmation. "I mean you guys have the city council putting up signs about curfews and yet I never heard anything about this place. Believe me; if I had known I would have been here sooner but truthfully I didn't even come because of the vampires, Sid and me saw a psychic in LA who said the demon we're hunting was here and that's why we're here." Giles frowned and refilled Buffy's plate that she was holding out to him pointedly, it was going to be a long night. 

****

At first Buffy talked about only staying with Giles for a few days until she had cleared up their Hellmouth problem and tracked down the demon that she and Sid were hunting but Giles quickly realised that the girl had no where to go, she had stories; hundreds of stories of Watchers she had met and places she had travelled but by the third day Sid made Giles realise that the girl's talk about food wasn't rudeness she was just hungry and had been supporting herself completely for the past three years since she was Called and left home. He saw her in a tank top once and nearly gasped at the site of her bony ribs that were showing and the crisscross of scars that marred them. On the forth day he placed a call to London and found out everything he could about the young Slayer; she had had a string of bad luck with Watchers after the first one was killed in front of her two had been killed in the line of duty and one of them she had walked out on because he was too strict, another because he was an idiot, her hair still wasn't long enough after his nearly fatal mistake. She had been living hand to mouth all those years and although she kept her own account of her exploits and tried to keep up with her training she was still clearly in need of an authority figure to help her. The day they found Sid's demon and killed it nearly broke her heart and it made him sad to see such a strong girl crying over the now completely unremarkable puppet; his tortured soul finally released to enjoy his well earned rest. They gave him a funeral and had a proper plot in the cemetery because even though he had been a slightly lecherous man his soul that was put in a puppet's body years ago was still a good friend to the young girl and had apparently gotten her out of a few hairy situations over the years, he was a good friend, mentor and hunting partner to the Slayer and the girl.


	3. Spike and his gem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest will be told and explained in flashback but I was too impatient to bring Spike in so I fast forwarded it a bit.

The Wish Chapter 3

Sid’s death affected Buffy more than she let Giles or any of the others know, their whole reason for going to Sunnyhell was to search for the last of the brotherhood of seven. The demon had already harvested a heart and a brain to maintain his human form for another seven years but the lodestone Buffy owned revealed the demon to them in its true form, why an ageless demon would choose to masquerade as a high school student was beyond her but then what did she know? It certainly made for a strange monthly memorial service to have Buffy watching the entire student body; so much smaller than it should have been, from the side lines in her leather biker gear and watching them through the little stone with the natural hole in it. The lodestone was made of limestone and had come to this country from the Burren in Ireland, she had been to two antique shops looking for it as it had belonged to this old Druid woman whose apartment had been thoughtlessly cleaned out by her inconsiderate landlord after she had been found murdered with her heart ripped out. Buffy had known her; they hadn’t been friends but they hadn't been enemies, Buffy had always tried to keep on friendly terms with at least a few people in the demon community to keep her up to date on the goings on. When Caoimhe had died Buffy hadn’t cried, she held it in and quite calmly tracked down the little parasite who was selling hers and other’s organs on the black market for their magical properties and sliced him to pieces in front of the macabre patrons of his dark auction room. Then she went back and tried to get all of Caoimhe’s magical and sentimental belongings; they didn’t belong in the garbage. That’s when she heard about the asshole landlord selling all of her stuff to some junk dealer, it took two days but she finally tracked down the stone which revealed people as they truly were. As she wandered around the shop looking for anything else she recognised she felt someone grab her ass, honed reflexes reacted before she consciously thought about what she was doing and she grabbed him around the neck and held him down with a knife to his throat in the space of a blink.

“Stop the puppet act you little creep! I know you grabbed my ass!” She spat out, in his defence Sid did maintain the pretence of being a harmless dummy for just long enough for Buffy to question herself but then there was a flicker; a slight movement of his eye and she laughed, “You know puppets used to freak me out when I was a kid but now that I’m the Slayer…. they still freak me out. I think I’ll buy you so I can burn you.”  
Sid swivelled his neck around to look at her and raised his wooden eyebrows, “Hey Tuts hands off the threads, I was only having a little fun witt’ya,” His Brooklyn accent was quite funny coming out of the dummy’s mouth. “You’re a Slayer huh? Met one of them during the twenty’s” That had been the start of their friendship. Sid had been a demon hunter when he was human and had been cursed to this existence by a well-meaning but misguided witch years earlier, he often made thinly veiled sexual innuendos but quickly he had become like a father to her; making sure she ate properly, eavesdropping on people’s conversations to see if they were ‘on the up and up’ and generally looking out for her well being, she hadn't had anyone watching her back for a while and it was nice to have one like Sid. She survived hand to mouth most of the time and made a living by robbing the vampires and demons she killed or playing her violin on the street, often times were tough; she couldn’t work all the time and living in her van wasn’t a long term option. She could stay in the van for a few nights but she needed a proper bed if her muscles were going to be fighting ready and a shower was always welcome, she acted tough but Sid often saw through it. 

She had always known that Sid did not enjoy life but he cared about her, he told her once he couldn’t feel things except extreme cold or extreme heat so she knew he didn’t really feel it when he put his hand on girls’ asses but he needed to do it so he wouldn’t think about it and she was the only girl who ever figured out that the dummy was really animated and that it wasn't just her imagination. 

He’d made her promise she wouldn’t be sad when he left; heaven was his reward and he was looking forward to it and she tried to keep that promise but it wasn’t easy, they buried him in one of the cemeteries that she patrolled every night and although she had told him she wouldn’t waste time mourning him once he was gone she still found herself visiting his grave every night when she was hunting for fledges.

The well-meaning witch that had cursed him to the puppet body had actually been trying to curb his addiction to certain substances and help him to focus on his goal of hunting demons by transferring the unhealthy aspects of his personality to an inanimate object; the dummy. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been a very clever woman or she had been too sure of herself to be careful; Sid said magic was like a drug and some people kept using it and using it to see how far they could go. You can’t pick and choose what parts of a person’s mind you want to keep and want to throw away, Sid was who he was and that was a high functioning heroin addict, so to honour that Buffy rolled a weak spliff and smoked it at his grave every night; it’s the way he would have wanted her to honour his memory.  
Cordelia started to settle in after a few weeks even though she often talked of that strange other world where Buffy had apparently been friends with vampires and even dated one. She was rather sweet and was always encouraging Buffy to do things; normal girly things like getting her hair done which Buffy hadn’t done in years. Although they were shallow and came across as a bit empty headed Buffy began to really care about Harmony and the rest of the Cordettes. They teased her good naturedly about her hair and her clothes but they could tell that whatever had happened to make Sunnydale safer was because of her somehow. Buffy was sad when all of her new friends were murdered.

 

Ten months and a universe trip later  
Spike was digging like a man possessed, he rarely stopped for food or sleep; time constraints like day and night meant nothing to him down here in the dark. The minions working for him had learnt to stop asking stupid questions like “When are we going to eat?”, “When do we get a break?” or “What happened to Joe?” Well they got to eat when they reached the tomb, they could sleep when he had the gem and Joe asked TOO MANY GODDAMN QUESTIONS! 

He knew what the little pricks said about him, said he needed to get laid, said he was bunged up, said he was obsessed but he didn’t care. One thing mattered, one thing kept him going and every rock he broke, every shovel of dirt he moved was for her. Not Dru, this wasn’t about Dru anymore this was about the other her. Her with her stupid hair and her high kicks and her smart quips and her ‘I love you Angel' s. What a dumb stupid bint she was to even give Angelus the time of day, he knew the Council party line about demons killing humans and reanimating their bodies and that that was what vampires were. He also knew it was so much horse shit; he was the same person he had always been but without the breaks on, he had always been a man who gave himself completely to something or someone once he knew they were what he wanted and Liam had always been a womanising creep who used to lift the skirts of every good-looking housemaid in his Father’s home. Now he would deny it with his poncey new name and his poncey persona but Spike saw through him and it killed him that a warrior like her, designed to fight and kill his kind could have been beaten and nearly broken by that asshole.  
So, he dug; barely stopping to sleep or eat, he hadn’t even set up a bedroom or a bed for himself he just found kip in the outer reaches of the cave when the fancy took him. By the time he reached the treasure there were only four vampires left including him, Brian was a small fella but smart and had needed someone like Spike to work for and serve for his unlife to have meaning and safety while Dave and Sam were big and bulky but arrogant and too stupid to realise how stupid they were, he would have called them cannon fodder or muscle in the old days. Managing his minions had been hard work these past few months but it was worth it to finally reach his goal but there was jewellery everywhere; how did he know which piece was the piece he needed? It would take days! 

“Sam! Dave!” He called down, “Get your asses up here!” They all put on all the jewellery they could find and then Spike gingerly used a silk handkerchief to pick up an ornate bejewelled crucifix and held it to each of their cheeks. Dave hissed and recoiled as his flesh burned but Sam, although he reflexively recoiled, did not burn so Spike spent another hour carefully taking off bits of jewellery until the cross did burn and he now held in his hand the Gem of Amara; his ticket to killing himself his third and greatest slayer and getting Dru back. Dave had run away when Spike had burned his face but Sam was now putting two and two together and realised that he had just gotten a very valuable ring taken from him. Spike had remained tight lipped about what was actually in the tomb; all his minions knew was that it was some sort of weapon that would help Spike to kill the Slayer which he talked about constantly. It was the general silent theory between all the minions, silent since Rudy (RIP) made a comment about how Spike should fuck her before he killed her because ‘she had a sweet little ass and he’d like to grab a piece’ Rudy never finished the thought as Spike then beat him to a pulp with his bare hands until he dusted. None of the other minions had ever seen someone literally beaten to dust before and they were very careful about what they said about the Slayer after that, but the theory they shared out of earshot of Spike was that he badly needed to fuck her, the only one night stand he had brought back to the cave had left the minute the sun had set and had been blonde just like the Slayer. 

Brian had seen the Slayer in a video, he was only a few years old as a fledge so he had never met one up close but the videos he’d seen made him shudder; she was the best fighter he’d seen; she fought like the terminator or Jackie Chan or something. The only times Spike took a break was when he was watching these movies and drinking Jack Daniels like it was water mixed with blood.

After dusting Sam Spike left the cave in search of destiny; Buffy would be his, she would die under his fangs and by his hands and it would be perfect.

 

Oblivious to the now unstoppable vampire who was plotting her doom Buffy was setting up to perform in the Sunnydale U. quad, she liked to perform publicly at least three times a week to keep her skills honed. Once upon a time busking with her violin or juggling paid for things like food and shelter but now she was in this universe she just did it for fun, when she was a kid and learning to play the instrument she was constantly getting corrected by her teacher Jerome for moving around too much even though he understood that she wasn’t just playing the music she was living it. That’s why Buffy moved as she played now; mixture of modern dance and ballet all while playing her violin. Quite the crowd was gathering and her open case was getting a few dollars from the watching students and teachers. This piece always made her feel alive like every nerve ending in her body was reacting to the strings’ rhythmic resonances so she didn’t notice the extra feeling of vampire tingles, after all she was hunting a very different type of prey today.

Parker stood out from the rest of the crowd with his jet-black hair and size, he was a creep, she could tell just by looking at him but she knew that was because of Sid; he had always been very critical of men and appearances, said you could judge a man by his shoes, his hair and his hands. What was worse was that he had usually been right, travelling with the dummy had been an education in human nature as his opinion of most of them was pretty low and therefore accurate. She finished the piece with a flourish as she bent backwards so her head was nearly touching the ground and then came up and did the splits earning the applause of all assembled. That nice guy Riley was just about to come up and talk to her when Buffy spoke.

“Thank you, Thank you. All proceeds will be going to a Los Angelus homeless shelter and soup kitchen so please give generously!” As she passed the hat around she paused in front of Parker who gave a shrug to a pretty girl standing next to him and was about to put a ten in the hat when Buffy caught his hand. “Parker isn’t it?” She asked with an over the top smile.  
“Eh, yeah, have we met?” He asked with what he thought was a charming smile as he tried unsuccessfully to pull his hand away.

“No, but I know you, horrible life you must have had; you are so brave to go to college given everything.” Buffy said with mock concern and loud enough for everyone to hear, he still couldn’t pull his hand back. 

“Eh, what do you mean?” Parker was beginning to feel trapped and wondering why he had stopped to watch the pretty dancer, it wasn’t a coincidence she had found out his class schedule and that was why she was here, today he was her prey.

“Well if I had told multiple people multiple lies about my parents and their state of death then I wouldn’t dare show my face around campus. I mean I’ve met some pretty nasty pieces of work in my time but you really take the biscuit; lying about your Father being dead so you can get girls to sleep with you? I mean I know pity is the only reason any girl would ever give a creep like you the time of day but still, low blow man, low blow. Your parents thought so too when I called them and told them what you’d been doing, as did the campus councillor who you should really make an appointment to go see because you are showing all the signs of being a straight up sociopath.” She dropped his wrist then as if it was dirty and Parker snatched it back like he’d been stung, he looked around at the watching students, many of them from his classes who were now applauding Buffy’s actions. She gave them all another little bow as Parker walked away looking murderous, she knew she was supposed to be a paragon of virtue and fair play but it was so satisfying to see the creep that had seduced Amy and then dumped her getting publicly named and shamed, Amy stood to the side with her hood pulled up and gave Buffy a wink. Buffy would do anything for a friend. 

Buffy continued collecting money from the crowd and put the tingly feeling down to the adrenaline from the confrontation and never noticed the dark figure with bleached blonde hair watching her. Riley came up to her then and tried to start small talk, ever since she had gone to his Frat house and tried to sell them a security package for the house he had been working up the courage to invite her on a date and she would prefer it if he didn’t, nice boys from Ohio had no place in the life of a Slayer.

“…So, I was wondering if you’d like to go with me sometime.” He finished with a grin, Buffy repressed a sigh, ‘sometime’ was such an awkward word to ask her out with, she now had to be the bad guy and shoot him down or say yes and go on what promised to be a very boring date.

“I don’t know Riley, I’m working pretty hard with my security company, most new businesses fail in the first year so I really can’t relax for at least another six months.” She tried but the guy was relentless and literally didn’t seem to understand the word ‘no’.

“That’s ok, I’m busy too what with school and being a TA but everyone gets a night off, right?” Buffy quickly counted to ten in her head, what made this guy think she would want to spend one of her few free evenings in his company?

“I spend my nights off performing in the Bronze with the Dingoes or visiting LA to see our sister company,” He was giving her sad puppy eyes which made her feel guilty, didn’t he know using pity like that into guilting her into dating him was as bad as what Parker had done? Only not because he wasn’t lying but still, if you need to use pity to get someone to date you then it’s blackmail. “I’m playing two sets tonight at the Bronze, we’re on at 9, maybe we could grab a drink after.” She was rewarded with a goofy grin.

“Great! It’s a date, see you then.” And he was gone before Buffy could correct him, it was definitely not a date. She looked behind her a few times as she walked to her motor cycle, she had a car but campus parking was a nightmare and the bike was fun to ride on a sunny day, a few times as she walked she got the feeling she was being followed but every time she looked back she didn’t see anyone, it was probably just nerves over that Parker creep.

 

Spike’s mind was in a spiral, he had expected to find the Slayer on campus but not playing a violin or dancing like that, she’d always been sexy, especially in those tight leather pants she often wore but he hadn’t seen her looking so alive since… He followed her the rest of the way to her bike and watched her ride away, close enough so the breeze carried her scent to him but far enough away that he wouldn’t alert her to his presence. He sat on a bench for a while and watched the clouds move across the blue sky, he didn’t know what he had expected but the Slayer who he had found was more like the girl he had first seen that night in the Bronze than the girl he had seen last December with Angelus/Angel. He wondered if Angelus was really out of the picture, rumour was he was in LA now but that was only a few hours away. The first night he had seen her there had been this freedom and effervescence to her that night in the Bronze when she had shoved the study books to one side and danced with her friends, he remembered watching how the fabric of her clothes clung to every curve and dip of her figure and how she was a goddess amongst mere mortals, all the males in the club slavered over her while she danced uncaring. Now she was doing the same but in the sun with her hair shining like spun gold, it had been over a hundred years since he had seen real blonde hair in real sunlight and it was certainly something he had missed without realizing it. Killing her would have to be something special, not a rush job in a public place but somewhere private where they could take their time and enjoy the dance. Spike stood from the bench with a new resolve and went out to find out everything he could about her and her new joke de vive. 


End file.
